A radial piston pump of the pre-cited type is known from EP O 539 849 B1. FIG. 3 of this prior art document shows a pump shaft whose end portion is retained in a housing via a support bearing which is configured as a ball bearing. An eccentric bearing comprises an eccentric ring which is pressed onto the end portion. The outer peripheral surface of the eccentric ring forms the inner raceway for cage-guided bearing needle rollers. The outer raceway for these bearing needle rollers is formed by a sheet metal bushing having radially inward directed flanges. The axial retention of this eccentric bearing is assured by two radially outward directed flanges of the eccentric ring which overlap the radially inward directed flanges of the needle roller bushing.
A drawback of this prior art is that the bearing arrangement requires a considerable amount of mounting work because two bearings, namely a support bearing and an eccentric bearing have to be handled and mounted separately. A further drawback is that the heavy, solid eccentric ring can cause vibration problems in the bearing arrangement. In addition, this type of mounting arrangement requires a large design space. Finally, manufacturing is also more expensive due to the large number of separate components.